Kurt Helin

When he played at the start of the season and was healthy, Andrea Bargnani looked like an All-Star and former No. 1 pick… then he got a calf injury that kept him out for most of the season. He returned and struggled but had started to find his stroke again at points (he dropped 30…

David Stern’s press conference Friday afternoon sounded a whole lot like a eulogy for the Kings in Sacramento. Stern said Friday afternoon following the two-day NBA Board of Governor’s meeting that a handshake deal reached All-Star Weekend to get a new arena built in Sacramento was basically dead. While he would not use that exact…

It would have been a mistake for whoever purchased the New Orleans Hornets to sweep out General Manager Dell Demps and coach Monty Williams — the two of them have done as good a job as could be expected considering the circumstances. Just as David Stern made official Friday afternoon that Tom Benson would own…

Kobe Bryant is going to miss another game due to his ongoing shin problems, he will not play Friday night as the Lakers take on Denver, coach Mike Brown told the media at the team’s shootaround. He also would not speculate on if Kobe will be available for Sunday’s national television game against the Mavericks,…

UPDATE 11:10 pm: Dwight Howard could be out longer than anyone thought — the specialist in Los Angeles diagnosed him with a herniated disc in his back. UPDATE 2:30 pm: Dwight Howard has flown to Los Angeles where he will get a second opinion on his back problems, reports the Orlando Sentinel. He has had…

You know that show “Nurse Jackie?” On Showtime? With that woman who used to be Mrs. Soprano? Well, Carmelo Anthony is going to be on Sunday’s episode, reports the New York Daily News (via SLAM). Anthony will make a guest appearance on Showtime’s hit dark comedy ‘Nurse Jackie’ playing a fallen pro hoops player. In…

The swelling Ray Allen’s ankle is bad enough that he will be out Saturday, but it’s not so bad that Celtics fans should be all that concerned. That’s basically what Doc Rivers said Friday. From our man A. Sherrod Blakely at CSNNE.com: Allen did not travel with the team for tonight’s game against the Raptors,…

Tom Benson, the long-time owner of the New Orleans Saints, now will own both professional sports teams in that market. Benson has reached a deal to buy the team for $338 million, reports David Aldridge of NBA.com. The league reached a tentative agreement early Friday morning with New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson to buy…

Here is our daily look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT) — done in bullet point form. Because bloggers love bullet points. • Should the Boston Celtics offer Kevin Garnett a new contract after this season?…

Way back in the Summer of 2010, Lamar Odom was a key part of Team USA winning the FIBA World Championships — his versatile game blends in beautifully with the international style of basketball. He can knock down threes or play in the post, and the things that make him a tough cover in the…

Clearly, he needs to practice this more. Okay, the real problem is that nobody was in his way. If Pau Gasol or Kendrick Perkins or Timofey Mozgov or a Kia had been in his way, we would have been treated to the spectacular. It’s like in The Princess Bride, when the Man in Black defeats Fezzik in…

What you missed while debating if you would give up sex for internet access… Bulls 96, Heat 86 (OT): Neither team looked like a playoff title contender, but this win moves the Bulls four games up on the Heat and pretty much cements them in as the top seed in the East. Our own Brett…

It was the game of the night, and it didn’t disappoint. Well, neither team really looked playoff ready, but what I mean was it was very entertaining. It took an amazing C.J. Watson three to send the game to overtime, but once there the Bulls made their plays. Here are a few highlights of the…

Despite the fact he is coming off knee surgery, and that along with recent back spasms have limited him to playing in just five games this season, Eric Gordon promises to be very popular this summer. He will be a restricted free agent. And he is considered one of the (if not THE) best up…

Before you think about mocking Charles Barkley’s picks, remember this — he was picking the Mavericks last season long before conventional wisdom came around to them. So when Barkley says that the Chicago Bulls are the best in the East, we shouldn’t just dismiss it as the usual Barkley bombast. Here are his quotes from…

Some guys leave college because they will go as a high draft pick, but others are motivated because of what they see as an unstable situation at the university. Meet Andre Drummond. The UConn big man is a lock top 5 pick, plus nobody is sure if Jim Calhoun will be back in the fall…

Poor Moondog. The Cavaliers loveable mascot — no, not Luke Harangody, the actual mascot — had to be taken to the hospital Wednesday following a play fight with the Pacers David West went wrong, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer (via SLAM). Moondog needed to be taken to a local hospital after suffering an eye injury…

What’s really going to happen, they’re going to get worse? Corey Maggette was brought in this season to provide some scoring punch for a Bobcats team we all knew was going to struggle putting points up on the board. And when he has been healthy he has scored 15 points a game, although he is…

At age 39, Jason Kidd is having the worst season of his NBA career — 5.9 points per game on 34.7 percent shooting, 5.3 assists per game and a PER of 12.5. All of those are career lows. He has been slowed by back pain and other physical issues. But he wants to come back…

We thought this might be a possibility, but the fact he needs surgery kind of made the decision for everyone involved. After having a specialist look at Aldridge’s ailing hip and suggesting surgery after finding “slight abnormalities” the team announced Friday they are shutting the All-Star forward down for the season. “In his most recent…

In a purely business sense, you can argue that guys from the USA Basketball team deserve a cut of the money they earn USA Basketball — they do generate a lot of money in jersey sales and they help drive some big ticket events. But it’s a public relations disaster to ask for the money.…

Two weeks from today — April 26 — is the final day of the regular season. It came up on us all sneaky fast. You can thank the lockout for that, too. Let’s take a look at how the playoff races and seedings shake out with two weeks left: Eastern Conference Chicago and Miami will…

We will go through this one more time, then let this be the end of it. Not because it should be swept under the rug, but because it’s time to move on. Gilbert Arenas is trying to move on from the gun incident with the Wizards that led to him being suspended for half a…

Magic Johnson and Larry Bird swung by Late Night with David Letterman on Wednesday to promote the new play about their lives, and the two guys who are now friends tell some stories and have some laughs. It’s a fun trip down memory lane. Enjoy.

Here is our daily look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT) — done in bullet point form. Because bloggers love bullet points. • Look for Grant Hill to return to the Suns Friday. They really could…